SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State men’s soccer goalkeeper Michael Creek was announced Tuesday (June 22) as the recipient of the university’s 2021 Virgil Cheek Award.
The annual honor is bestowed on the graduating Missouri State University male student-athlete best demonstrating high qualities in scholarship, character, attendance, leadership and athletic performance. The award has been presented annually since 1955 and is named in honor of the long-time Missouri State faculty athletics representative and business faculty member.
Voting is conducted by Missouri State’s six men’s intercollegiate athletics head coaches.
Creek started all 14 games in goal for the Bears this spring where he totaled 1,258 minutes and posted a 0.72 goals-against average with 24 saves and just 10 goals allowed for the Bears while helping them advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 after winning the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles. Creek held opponents scoreless in three straight matches to begin the season and allowed just one goal through the first five games. His six shutouts ranked best in the MVC and tied for sixth nationally at the Division I level. He was named to the All-MVC second team and Preseason All-MVC Team while also being tabbed with MVC Scholar-Athlete first team, United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region and CoSIDA Academic All-District honors.
He earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in both 2019 (first team) and 2018 (third team), while racking up MVC Scholar-Athlete and CoSIDA Academic All-District honors each of the past three seasons. He was named MVC Goalkeeper of the year in 2019 en route to all-region distinction and a United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American announcement in 2019. His career has also seen five MVC Academic Honor Roll laurels, four MVC Commissioner’s Academic Excellence Awards and a 2021 MVC President’s Council Academic Award.
The St. Louis native graduated summa cum laude in December with a degree in Entrepreneurship.
Creek is the fifth Bears soccer player in the last 10 years, the third in a row, and the seventh all-time — to earn this prestigious student-athlete honor.
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Past Virgil Cheek Award Recipients
- 1955 Jerry Anderson, basketball, track
- 1956 Ron Whitaker, football
- 1957 George Simpson, track
- 1958 Max Oldham, basketball
- 1959 Russ Robinson, basketball
- 1960 Charlie Finley, football, track
- 1961 Jerry Stockard, basketball
- 1962 Carl Wilks, basketball
- 1963 Edsel Matthews, basketball
- 1964 Rich Johanningmeier, football
- 1965 Jerry Boyer, football
- 1966 Dan Young, football
- 1967 Bill Douglass, football, track
- 1968 Dennis Scott, football
- 1969 Danny Cook, baseball
- 1970 Bill Lamberson, track
- 1971 Chuck Williams, basketball
- 1972 Bob Curl, basketball, track
- 1973 Eric Thompson, basketball
- 1974 Randy Magers, basketball, baseball
- 1975 Bob Grana, football
- 1976 Kent Stringer, football
- 1977 John Prasuhn, track, cross country
- 1978 Terry Kasper, football, baseball
- 1979 Ron Snider, baseball
- 1980 Mitch Ware, football
- 1981 Bobby Biser, golf
- 1982 Mark Daniels, football
- 1983 Darrin Newbold, football
- 1984 Anthony Boggs, basketball
- 1985 Brian Smith, basketball
- 1986 Phil Schlegel, basketball
- 1987 Scott Hickox, basketball
- 1988 Preston Estes, football
- 1989 Scott Hartwig, football
- 1990 Chris Stange, basketball
- 1991 Jeff Eiserman, golf
- 1992 Tim McDuffey, football
- 1993 Chad Lakin, baseball
- 1994 Jim Prendergast, wrestling
- 1995 Chad Gardner, cross country, track
- 1996 Dan Kneeshaw, football, baseball
- 1997 Brad Barnes, soccer
- 1998 Neal McNamara, tennis
- 1999 Derek Jensen, football
- 2000 Brad St. Louis, football
- 2001 Matt White, football
- 2002 Jason Ringena, football
- 2003 Blake Boldon, cross country, track
- 2004 Rishi Garbharran, tennis
- 2005 Brad Durham, football
- 2006 Nathan Platz, soccer
- 2007 Mike Radon, football
- 2008 David Tillman, football
- 2009 Chris Playter, baseball
- 2010 Justin Fuehrmeyer, basketball
- 2011 David Arkin, football
- 2012 Heath Melugin, soccer
- 2013 Daily Young, golf
- 2014 Trevor Spangenberg, soccer
- 2015 Caleb Schaffitzel, football
- 2016 Sam Perez, baseball
- 2017 Dylan Cole, football
- 2018 Christopher Heye, swimming
- 2019 Kyle Hiebert, soccer
- 2020, Matthew Bentley, soccer
- 2021, Michael Creek, soccer
